Chapter 72 talk to strangers

The father always tells his children not to talk to strangers, especially in public places such as streets and trains. This instruction has always been high in his frequently repeated admonitions, such as never sticking your head and hands out of the car window. first place.Mother is like the old lady in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Old Man Is Always Right". She always echoes the father's instructions to the children.But my mother was not the first to fulfill the rule of not talking to strangers, and, on the contrary, she liked talking to strangers most in certain public places, especially on trains.

Once, my parents and I took the train back to our hometown in Sichuan to visit relatives. On the way there, a strange woman in the same sleeper room asked my mother something, and my mother responded enthusiastically, which led to more inquiries. She also answered more enthusiastically. My father looked at her and then at me, with an embarrassed expression on his face. After listening to it for a long time, he went to the junction of the carriages to smoke.I heard my mother tell people about how many children she has and how they are, including what school I go to. I was so anxious that I gently kicked the upper of my mother's shoe with my toe, but my mother didn't notice it, and was very happy. Chatting with others along the way; she also asked the woman, and the woman had the same temperament as her, and she also answered slowly.The same was true on the way back from visiting relatives. My mother had a great conversation with two young women who had just graduated from medical school and were assigned to Beijing. Let others hear it.

Mother's mouth was defenseless.Later, I thought about it, maybe it’s a family like ours that can’t go up to reach the sky, doesn’t fall into a pit, doesn’t suffer from hunger or cold, and doesn’t have the desire to explode. As for deliberately hindering me, so my mentality is very relaxed, I always speculate on others with kindness, and always show 10,000 percent kindness to strangers even on the journey. One winter, my mother and I took the train from Beijing to Zhangjiakou.I was already working at that time, and I felt much more mature.I sat on a hard seat, and the seat was not full, but the car was full of filth from people.There were two young men sitting across from us, with fierce faces, and some gray silk was exposed from the holes in the cotton coats on their bodies.The mother actually went to talk to the boy opposite, and asked him how he couldn't find a cure for the frostbite on his hand, and said that he should soak it in warm water for half an hour every day, and then apply the medicine.The young man said coldly: "I have no money to buy medicine." He also made eye contact with another young man next to him.I felt bad, so I touched my mother's shoe upper with my toes.As usual, my mother ignored my reminder, but took out a box of wishful ointment from her handbag. The box was bigger than a matchbox, and it was triangular in shape, but each corner was rounded, flesh-colored, and opened. The lid and the ointment inside are also flesh-colored, exuding a strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine.She took out some with her fingers, and applied the ointment to the young man's hands on the small table in the middle of the seat where there were chilblains.The young man wanted to withdraw his hand at first, but his mother's kindness and stubbornness made him accept the ointment obediently, and after applying the ointment with one hand, he applied the other.The other young man was also persuaded by his mother to take medicine.While applying the medicine to them, the mother chatted to them, to the effect that this Ruyi Ointment is no longer produced in the pharmaceutical factory, and this is the last box at home. Pick a little and drink it with boiled water, it can do the job; she also laughed and said that she was really backward, and only recognized such old medicines. Nowadays, there are many new medicines, which are more scientific and reliable, but it is rare to be familiar with them... Finally, she took The box of wishful ointment was given to the young man opposite, and he was told to apply it on chilblain every day, saying that don't underestimate chilblain, if it is not cured in time, if it is scratched and infected, it will cause serious illness.She also wanted to chat with the two young men about other things, but they didn't appreciate it very much, and thanked them vaguely, as if they were going to the toilet and never returned.When the train arrived at Zhangjiakou Station, there was some commotion on the platform when getting off the train. The police escorted a few robbers out of the station.With sharp eyes, I recognized the two young men who were sitting opposite us.I also heard some people commenting that their gang originally planned to fight in the No. 3 car, and everything was planned. For some reason, they went to the No. 7 car and were arrested...My mother and I took the No. 3 car. compartment number.My mother asked me what was going on with the chaos over there?I said we can't control that much, let me help you get out of the station slowly, the train is an hour late, my father must be waiting outside.

In her later years, my mother once came to live with my second brother's house.Although she is fat, she can go up and down five floors every day and go to the nearby streets for activities.Her old habit of talking to strangers persisted.On the corner of the street, there was a master shoe repairer who retired from the factory and set up a stall to repair shoes. She didn’t repair shoes. When she went to talk to people, the master would definitely invite her to sit on the stool and chat. , The two chatted closer and closer.It turned out that the big copper thimble in the late Qing Dynasty was passed down from the master's grandmother to his mother, and my grandmother just passed down a similar thimble to my mother.The final result of the chat was that the mother-bereaved master recognized my mother as a godmother, and my mother brought him to my house, treating him like a parent and child.The neighbors were amazed, and my wife and children also felt that the mother

However, after getting along with that old man for a long time, I have experienced the simple and honest feelings in the world, and I am grateful to my mother for adding rich fun to our life. My mother passed away at the age of 84, which is considered a long life.Not only the father, but many people with social experience earnestly warned that don't talk to strangers, it is not only theoretically uncontestable, because you accidentally talk to strangers or are seduced by strangers, which leads to There are too many actual examples of troubles, entanglements, disputes, harassment, and even tragedies, tragedies, farces, and strange dramas.But in my mother's 84 years of life experience, there has never been a single case of loss caused by talking to a stranger. This is God's great love for her, or it proves that even a vicious stranger has suffered from talking like my mother. Or, even if there is still kindness like fireflies in his human nature, will he be incited?

Both parents died many years ago.All kinds of scenes of mother talking with strangers come to mind from time to time, infiltrating every trace of warmth.But when I was in society, I still abided by my father’s legacy of not talking to strangers. Even if I had to talk to strangers, I would try my best to be polite and cautious. Two days ago in the subway passage, I heard the melodious singing of a male and female duet, singing "Deep Ocean", which I loved to hum most in my youth: deep ocean, Why are you restless? Restless is like my lover, That shaking heart... The singing quickly formed a cobweb in my heart, catching and sticking the melancholy that I usually hide in my heart like bugs, trembling.Approaching the singers, they were found to be a pair of middle-aged blind men.The man was holding a large enamel jar in his hand, and people passing by kept throwing money into it.I stopped very close to them, trying to wait until they had finished their last line before throwing money at them.When they finished singing, I took a step forward, when the man seemed to see me clearly and said to me, "Sir, talk to us. We need people to talk to, more than money!" The lady responded, "Sir, tell us anything!"

My hand holding up the money froze and couldn’t move any more. Layers of warm waves surged from my heart. It seemed that my mother’s kind face was on top of each wave... Mother’s blood pulsed in my throat, and I realized that, A sweet moment in life beyond utilitarian defense has come...